Stuart Pearce defends calling Jack Wilshere up to England U21 squad

Stuart Pearce has defended his decision to select
Jack Wilshere and
Andy Carroll in his provisional England squad for this summer’s European Under-21 Championship.

Jack Wilshere has been selected in the provisional England Under-21 squad for the summer (Pic: Getty)

Pearce defied opposition from Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger to select Wilshere in an initial 40-man party for the finals in Denmark despite fears about the player being burnt out.

‘I’ve been involved in football a long time but I’ve never actually seen a team that gets to a final then decides to drop their best players,’ said Pearce. ‘I think that’s quite silly.’

The Under-21 added: ‘Football’s about gaining experience at whatever level you have to play. When I look back over the previous winners of the under-21 tournament over maybe the last 15 years, all of those winners, if you look a couple of years further on, their national sides at senior level have done particularly well.

‘I look at the Germans at under-21 level, they were champions two years ago and their team went on to a [World Cup] semi-final.’

Wilshere and Carroll were among six players named in the squad to have been capped at senior level, along with Danny Welbeck , Jordan Henderson , Micah Richards and Kieran Gibbs. The 40-man party will be reduced to 23 by June 1, four days before England play a final warm-up match.

Full provisional England Under-21 squad for European Championship finals in Denmark (June 10-25):